Actuation configuration and method

ABSTRACT

An actuation configuration including a baffle having an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across the baffle. A borehole system including a housing, a seat in the housing presenting an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across seat. A method for treating a borehole including running a plug onto a baffle, extruding plug material into an opening of the baffle, compacting the plug material in the opening to support a target differential pressure across the baffle, and actuating a borehole tool. A method for treating a borehole including running a deformable plug through a restriction, landing the plug on a seat having an opening, compacting material of the deformable plug into the opening to support a differential pressure thereacross, actuating a borehole tool.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/310,624 filed Jan. Mar. 18, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference

BACKGROUND

In the drilling and completion industry, cementing is an important step in the process. Oftentimes in wells being completed at the time of this filing other actions are contemplated such as fracturing, and or setting other tools using ball seats. These are generally of decreasing diameter with increasing depth in the borehole. Cementing operations generally employ what is vernacularly known as darts that follow the cement and land in a valve at the end of a cementing operation. The dart in the valve is configured to hold pressure for subsequent operations. The systems so constructed work well for their purpose but with ever increasing demands on efficiency and numbers of stages uphole of a wellbore isolation valve, the industry is always seeking alternatives.

SUMMARY

An actuation configuration including a baffle having an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across the baffle.

A borehole system including a housing, a seat in the housing presenting an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across seat.

A method for treating a borehole including running a plug onto a baffle, extruding plug material into an opening of the baffle, compacting the plug material in the opening to support a target differential pressure across the baffle, and actuating a borehole tool.

A method for treating a borehole including running a deformable plug through a restriction, landing the plug on a seat having an opening, compacting material of the deformable plug into the opening to support a differential pressure thereacross, actuating a borehole tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:

FIG. 1 is a view of an alternative material plug;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross section view of an actuation system;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one iteration of a baffle as disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a baffle opening with surface roughness;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a baffle opening with ridges;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a baffle opening with a threadform;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a baffle opening with teeth;

FIGS. 8-14 are alternate configurations of the deformable plug; and

FIGS. 15-18 are alternate embodiments of opening patterns in the baffle plate as described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.

Referring to FIG. 1, it has been discovered that alternative material 10 (such as foam, rubber, or similar deformable material), that benefit from very light weight relative to conventional plug materials may be employed to produce plugs 12 for systems such as those described herein. The light weight provides at least for advantages in shipping costs to locations where the plugs 12 will be needed. One such location is in the downhole environment where the plug comprising the alternative material 10 is used in connection with a baffle 14 to create an actuation system 16 (see FIG. 2). The system 16 may include many different types of components that are actuatable or may simply be a downstream pressure block that is usable to facilitate upstream pressure increase for any of a host of different actuation possibilities many of which will be evident to those of skill in the art.

The system 16, in one embodiment (see FIG. 2), includes a seat 18, within which the baffle 14 is located, the seat 18 being disposed in a housing 20. The baffle 14 provides a number of openings 22 into which the plug material 10 will extrude during the application of pressure on the plug 12 while resisted by the baffle 14 (see FIG. 3 for a perspective view of one iteration of the baffle alone). During the extrusion, the plug material 10 is compacted. This is because of 1) friction that is presented to the plug material 10 by walls 24 of the openings 22 in the baffle 14; and 2) the pressure forcing the plug material 10 into the openings 22. The energy stored in the plug material 10 is sufficient to counteract the pressure being applied from upstream. In some iterations all of the openings 22 will be plugged with plug material 10 but it is to be understood that even where some of the openings 22 are not occluded with plug material 10, it still will be possible to generate a pressure differential across the baffle 12 because of the flow area restriction that is represented with some of the openings 22 occluded. Where that differential reaches a threshold to take an action (actuate something), the ultimate goal of the baffle 14 and plug 12 combination has been achieved even without full occlusion of all openings.

In some embodiments, friction in the openings 22 may be increased through one or more of wall surface features (roughness 40, ridges 42, threadforms 43, teeth 44, etc. see FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7) to increase compaction of the material 10 to thereby increase the differential pressure holding capacity of the combination of baffle 14 and plug 12. The more friction presented to the plug material 10, the greater the compaction of the material for a given pressure head upstream of the plug 12.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the illustrated embodiment actuation occurs within the housing 20. The seat 18 is movably disposed in the housing 20 in the illustrated embodiment such that a flow structure 26 in the housing 20 may be aligned initially and misaligned after a pressure event or that may be misaligned initially and aligned after a pressure event with a flow structure 28 in the seat 18. The seat is maintained in the first position where the flow structures 26/28 are misaligned or aligned, depending upon embodiment, and releasably secured to the housing 20 via a release member 30 such as a shear screw or similar. Upon a pressure event loading the baffle 14 due to plug 12 landing thereon and material 10 extruding into the baffle openings 22 the actuation generically referred to above occurs by movement of the seat 18 due to change in the volume of fluid that can flow through the baffle which changes effective pressure drop across the baffle. As long as enough of the openings are occluded with the material to effect an actuation, not all of the openings are required to be occluded. The baffle then will change from one condition prior to the plug material 10 entering the baffle 14 to a different condition after plug material 10 occludes one or more of the openings 22 of the baffle 14, the number of openings occluded being enough to support sufficient differential pressure to release the release member 30.

In operation, release of the release member 30 allows the seat 18 to shift relative to housing 20 causing the alignment or misalignment discussed above or allowing any other type of actuation by shifting, bursting, pressure sensing, etc. to occur. It will be appreciated that this is but one actuation possible with the concept described herein of producing a plug 12 of a plug material 10, that heretofore would not have been selected and causing that material to have pressure differential capability due to the baffle 14 and openings 22.

A benefit of the arrangement as disclosed is due to the fact that the plug 12 is far more deformable than conventional plugs and hence can move in a substantially unfettered manner through restrictions in a string that would be an obstacle to conventional plugs. The result is that many more stages (up to about 20) may be employed than heretofore possible.

Referring to FIGS. 8-14, alternate configurations of the deformable plug 12 are illustrated. The plug may be of an open cell foam or even a closed cell foam providing the compression ratio and strength are sufficient to compact in the openings 22 of the baffle 14 and hold pressure sufficient to release the release member 30 for the seat 18 or in other embodiments, to hold a sufficient pressure differential to effect actuation of whatever device is intended to be affected thereby (some other actuations could include packers, sleeves, valves, etc.). The plug may have a solid body (of open or closed cell material) as in FIGS. 8-12, a tubular body (of open or closed cell material) with or without a control orifice or disk 50 (as in FIG. 13), or an open structure of a number of open or closed cell elements 52 strung together with connectors 54 such as rubber (as in FIG. 14).

Referring to FIGS. 15-18 alternate embodiments of opening size shape and layout are presented. Each layout is a part of a baffle 14 and functions similarly to the foregoing disclosure.

Further disclosed is a method for treating a borehole including running a plug onto a baffle and extruding plug material into openings of the baffle, compacting the plug material to support a target differential pressure and actuating a borehole tool. Further disclosed is a method for treating a borehole including running a deformable ball through a restriction and then landing the ball on a seat that allows for shifting of the seat and thereby closing the wellbore isolation valve or shifting or actuating another borehole tool.

Also disclosed is a borehole system having a greater number of fracture stages uphole of a wellbore isolation valve than were heretofore possible due to limitations of the size of wiper plugs.

Further disclosure is embodied in the pages following.

Embodiment 1: An actuation configuration including a baffle having an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across the baffle.

Embodiment 2: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the plug material is an open cell material.

Embodiment 3: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the plug material is a closed cell material.

Embodiment 4: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the baffle includes a plurality of openings therein.

Embodiment 5: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening is cylindrical.

Embodiment 6: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening is elliptical.

Embodiment 7: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening is arc shaped.

Embodiment 8: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening includes a wall surface that is roughened.

Embodiment 9: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening includes wall surface that has ridges thereon.

Embodiment 10: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening includes wall surface that has a threadform thereon.

Embodiment 11: The configuration as in any prior embodiment wherein the opening includes wall surface that has teeth thereon.

Embodiment 12: A borehole system including a housing, a seat in the housing presenting an opening, a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across seat.

Embodiment 13: The system as in any prior embodiment wherein the seat further includes a baffle therein.

Embodiment 14: The system as in any prior embodiment wherein the plug material is an open cell material.

Embodiment 15: The system as in any prior embodiment wherein the plug material is a closed cell material.

Embodiment 16: A method for treating a borehole including running a plug onto a baffle, extruding plug material into an opening of the baffle, compacting the plug material in the opening to support a target differential pressure across the baffle, and actuating a borehole tool.

Embodiment 17: A method for treating a borehole including running a deformable plug through a restriction, landing the plug on a seat having an opening, compacting material of the deformable plug into the opening to support a differential pressure thereacross and actuating a borehole tool.

Embodiment 18: The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the actuating comprises shifting of the seat.

Embodiment 19: The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the shifting comprises aligning or misaligning flow structures depending upon whether the flow structures were immediately previous to shifting aligned or misaligned.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. Further, it should further be noted that the terms “first,” “second,” and the like herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The modifier “about” used in connection with a quantity is inclusive of the stated value and has the meaning dictated by the context (e.g., it includes the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity).

The teachings of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of well operations. These operations may involve using one or more treatment agents to treat a formation, the fluids resident in a formation, a wellbore, and/or equipment in the wellbore, such as production tubing. The treatment agents may be in the form of liquids, gases, solids, semi-solids, and mixtures thereof. Illustrative treatment agents include, but are not limited to, fracturing fluids, acids, steam, water, brine, anti-corrosion agents, cement, permeability modifiers, drilling muds, emulsifiers, demulsifiers, tracers, flow improvers etc. Illustrative well operations include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, tracer injection, cleaning, acidizing, steam injection, water flooding, cementing, etc.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An actuation configuration comprising: a baffle having a an opening; a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across the baffle.
 2. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plug material is an open cell material.
 3. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plug material is a closed cell material.
 4. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the baffle includes a plurality of openings therein.
 5. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening is cylindrical.
 6. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening is elliptical.
 7. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening is arc shaped.
 8. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening includes a wall surface that is roughened.
 9. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening includes wall surface that has ridges thereon.
 10. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening includes wall surface that has a threadform thereon.
 11. The configuration as claimed in claim 1 wherein the opening includes wall surface that has teeth thereon.
 12. A borehole system comprising a housing; a seat in the housing presenting an opening; a plug comprising a plug material extrudable into the opening and compactable therein to hold a differential across seat.
 13. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the seat further includes a baffle therein.
 14. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the plug material is an open cell material.
 15. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the plug material is a closed cell material.
 16. A method for treating a borehole comprising: running a plug onto a baffle; extruding plug material into an opening of the baffle; compacting the plug material in the opening to support a target differential pressure across the baffle; and actuating a borehole tool.
 17. A method for treating a borehole comprising: running a deformable plug through a restriction; landing the plug on a seat having an opening; compacting material of the deformable plug into the opening to support a differential pressure thereacross; actuating a borehole tool.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the actuating comprises shifting of the seat.
 19. The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the shifting comprises aligning or misaligning flow structures depending upon whether the flow structures were immediately previous to shifting aligned or misaligned. 